L-R: Harold, Mr. Evans, their high school woodshop teacher, Hubby ALBERT HAROLD TONEY
February 9, 1944 - November 29, 2007
After nine years of battling a brain tumor, Harold went to be with the Lord yesterday. On the way home from the hospice last night, Hubby said, "I got so tired of seeing Harold suffer." "You know, Harold have always been there for each other when we needed help, I don't know how I'm going to handle that now." There have been lots of tears, but we know Harold is in the presence of the Lord. The sting of death referenced in the Bible is the sting to those left, not the one taken.
A TRIBUTE TO HAROLD
If words could describe Harold Toney it would be, kind, laid back, unselfish and protective. We have been friends since second grade.
We went to the same grammar school, high school and we joined the Army at the same time. I was getting drafted and I thought it would be a good idea if Harold and I could join on the buddy system. When we got to basic training, we got off the bus, they shaved our heads and gave us shots and that was the last time I saw Harold until training was about over. When I finally saw him, I said, "you don’t look so good." He said, "I don’t?" "and the bad thing, I didn’t even have to go, you were the one who got drafted."
We got jobs at the Gas Company only nine months apart and we did almost the same jobs for 36 years.
Our childhood days were some of the best years of our lives. No pagers, no computers, no air conditioning, no cell phones, and no x-box. We always made our own fun, sometimes at the expense of others. Harold never liked being uncomfortable. He slept next to a fan in the summer, he liked cushy car seats, easy chairs and didn’t like walking long distances. It’s like the time Harold, Raymond and I went to the Southeastern Fair. Raymond’s mother drove us over to the fair grounds, which was a pretty good distance from home. She told us to call her when we were finished. We all had about $2.00 each to spend. Well, we all three spent ALL our money and didn’t have a dime (phone calls were a dime back then) to call Mrs. I. to pick us up, so we walked all the way from the fair grounds home. We were about two blocks from home when we saw something sparkle on Raymond’s shoes. He had two dimes in his penny loafers. We about beat Raymond to death. It had taken us two hours to walk home. This time Raymond was the one who was uncomfortable.
In closing Harold and I have been best friends for almost 60 years and we have never had harsh words. To me Harold was a Proverbs 18:24 man, which says, "A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." He was that man to me.
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